“If the anxiety is about the deadline, then the energy really focuses on the result. If there is not anxiety about a deadline, all of the anxiety goes right to the creative part.”
-Christoph Niemann
I just read a great Behance interview with Christoph Niemann. While being a phenomenal illustrator his tips on workflow are spot on. The above quote I extracted from the interview is such a true concept. What we need as creative professionals is to find a happy medium where there’s enough of an urgency to get things done but not so much as to stifle creativity. If I had all the time in the world to build a site I wouldn’t know where to start and then I would get finicky about every single detail finally bursting into an OCD tantrum. I find that to build a simple website working in two-week to one-month sprints works best. Having more time than this makes me want to find distractions and I end up getting less done with my time. To be productive I need to be engaged in flow, not anxious. And having too little, as well as too much time, can be detrimental.
As a web designer who runs his own design studio I find it very easy to get caught up in the flurry of day-to-day work and the business dealings of design. Anything from client meetings, project deadlines, answering emails, and managing project tasks can be a sure fire way to derail any bout of inspiration and sap all creative attention. Not that these activities aren’t important. They are vital to the proper functioning of any design business. But what I’m considering in this post is the critical importance of another often overlooked aspect of the design professional’s life. A principle that fails to get credit but one that is so powerful that it can make or break a design project, or any creative project for that matter. It’s the difference between attacking a new project with creative fury and facing the same project with trepidation and no ideas in sight. I’m referring to the cultivation and nurturing of my own creative muse. 
